Nenita Dasalla- Single Family Residence Real Estate Sales Consultant

Los Angeles Times
A year ago, 1 out of 10 REALTORS® surveyed said houses were receiving low-ball offers.  In the latest survey, there were hardly any.  Instead, the focus ha shifted to declining inventory levels.

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http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-harney-20120422,0,7259627.story

More consumers may be looking to purchase homes with a shift in several key housing market indicators, according to Fannie Mae’s March 2012 consumer attitudinal National Housing Survey.  More Americans now expect both home rental and home purchase prices to increase over the next year.  Nearly half of consumers expect higher rental prices, the highest number recorded since monthly tracking began in June 2010.  These trends may be providing Americans with an increased sense of urgency to buy a home as 73 percent of Americans now believe it is a good time to buy a home, up from 70 percent in February.

Highlights of the survey include:
Thirty-three percent of respondents expect home prices to increase over the next 12 months, a five percentage point increase from last month, the highest level over the past 12 months.
On average, Americans expect home prices to increase by 0.9 percent over the next 12 months (up slightly since last month).
Thirty-nine percent of Americans say that mortgage rates will go up in the next 12 months, a five percentage point increase from last month.
On average, respondents expect home rental prices to increase by 4.1 percent over the next 12 months, a significant increase since February, and the highest number recorded to date.
Forty-eight percent of respondents think that home rental prices will go up, a three percentage point increase from last month and the highest number recorded to date.
Sixty-six percent of respondents say they would buy their next home if they were going to move, up one point since last month, while 30 percent say they would rent, up one point versus last month.

http://www.fanniemae.com/portal/about-us/media/corporate-news/2012/5690.html

CNNMoney
Even as some mortgage standards have eased, hitting a needed appraisal value is proving a frustrating blocker for buyers and sellers and those looking to refinance.

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http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/30/real_estate/mortgage-denied/index.htm?iid=HP_River

Fannie Mae’s latest quarterly National Housing Survey focuses on the state of homeownership aspirations among Americans across all demographic groups. The survey finds that despite the recent housing crisis, most Americans continue to believe that owning their home is preferable to renting it. The data also indicate that while financial constraints and employment concerns may be keeping potential home buyers on the sidelines in the near term, future improvements in employment and personal finances, a pickup in interest rates in response to stronger economic growth, and stabilizing home prices may move Americans to act on their aspirations in coming years.

• Across all education levels, Americans say owning makes more sense than renting.  This belief is held consistently across all demographic groups.

• Nearly two-thirds of current renters say that they will buy a house at some point in the future.

• Non-financial factors such as safety and quality of local schools continue to be the top reasons for buying a home across all income groups.

• African-Americans and Hispanics are more likely to cite various benefits, such as buying a home as a way to build wealth, homeownership as a symbol of success, and civic benefits.

Attitudes about homeownership as an investment, financial constraints, and mortgage accessibility may mean that more Americans choose not to act on their aspiration for homeownership, thus potentially leading to lower homeownership rates.

• The margin of Americans believing homeownership has the highest investment potential has declined over the past several years.

• At the same time, the perceived safety of owning a home as an investment has trended downward, reaching a low of 63 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011.

• In turn, groups with higher levels of education and higher incomes are more likely to think buying a home is a safe investment.

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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed more than 2.1 million foreclosure prevention actions since the start of conservatorship including 1.1 million permanent loan modifications. These actions, designed to help borrowers stay in their homes, are detailed in the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s fourth quarter 2011 Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report. The report also shows that after nine months, fewer than 20 percent of Enterprise loans modified in the four quarters ended March 31, 2011, had missed two or more payments, an improvement over prior years.

With this report, FHFA releases new state data sets and launches an interactive Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac State Borrower Assistance Map, showing the number of loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, delinquencies, foreclosure prevention activities, Real Estate-Owned (REO) properties, and refinances in each state. In addition, the report now includes a graphic showing Delinquent Loans by State and Profiles of Key States, with detailed information about states with the biggest five-year decline in house prices and the highest number and rate of seriously delinquent loans.

Also in the report:
Half of all borrowers who received loan modifications in the fourth quarter had their monthly payments reduced by over 30 percent, and one-third included principal forbearance.
Serious delinquency rates for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans remain below industry levels and continue to decline.
California had the largest number of completed foreclosure prevention actions since the beginning of conservatorship in 2008.

http://www.fhfa.gov/webfiles/23523/4Q_Forecl_Prev_release_031912.pdf